Leviathan's Cube

Lore & Background

The artifact appears in the 2022 film Hellraiser as a mechanical puzzle box discovered by recovering drug addict Riley McKendry and her boyfriend Trevor in an abandoned storage warehouse. When Riley solves the puzzle at an empty park, the Cenobites appear and demand another sacrifice. The box changes shapes after each configuration is completed. Roland Voight, a hedonistic millionaire investor, art collector and socialite, had previously completed all of his sacrifices using the box, but instead of receiving a gift, a contraption was attached to him that randomly twists his nerve endings. The box's blade must cut a victim to mark them for sacrifice.

In Their Own Story

Six years after Voight's orgy where sex worker Joey Coscuna was ripped apart by chains from a portal opened by the box, Riley and Trevor find the puzzle box in an abandoned storage warehouse. Riley solves the puzzle at an empty park but misses being cut by the blade. The Cenobites appear and demand another sacrifice. Riley's brother Matt inadvertently cuts himself on the box while attempting to awaken her, then disappears after hearing screaming. Riley tracks down Voight's former lawyer Serena Menaker, who is cut by the blade and later abducted by the Cenobites. Visiting Voight's abandoned mansion, Riley discovers from his journals that each of the box's 6 configurations require a victim to be marked for sacrifice by its blade. On completion, the holder receives a "gift" from Leviathan. Riley sees an apparition of Matt and is horrified to discover he has been flayed. Later, the mutilated Voight, concealed inside the walls, stabs Nora with the box. After the Priest offers to exchange Matt for two sacrifices, Riley refuses. She later solves the next configuration and stabs the Chatterer, who is ripped apart as the next sacrifice. Voight completes the final configuration and traps the Cenobites, demanding they ask Leviathan to free him. Leviathan appears above the mansion. Riley retrieves the box, unlocks the steel doors, and rescues Colin from torture by stabbing Trevor, marking him as the final sacrifice. The Priest warns Voight that his reward can only be exchanged and not revoked; he accepts her offer of "power" and is released from his contraption and healed, only for Leviathan to immediately impale him with a large chain and lift him away. With the sacrifices completed, the Cenobites offer to resurrect Matt. Riley declines, realizing their gifts will bring pain, and decides to accept Matt's death. After the Cenobites accept her choice of the Lament Configuration, a life of regret with bitter and brief suffering, they vanish and the box resumes its cube configuration. Inside Leviathan's realm, Voight is brutally transformed into a new Cenobite.

Reader's Guide

The puzzle box has 6 configurations, each requiring a victim to be marked for sacrifice by its blade. When a victim is cut by the blade, they are marked for sacrifice. On completion of all configurations, the holder receives a "gift" from Leviathan, the entity that rules over Hell. However, as demonstrated by Voight, the reward can only be exchanged and not revoked. The box changes shapes after each configuration is completed. When solved, the Cenobites appear and demand sacrifices. The box can be used to trap Cenobites, as Voight did when he completed the final configuration. The box can also unlock steel doors that bar the Cenobites from entering. The box resumes its cube configuration after the Cenobites accept a choice.

Did You Know?

• The box has 6 configurations, each requiring a victim to be marked for sacrifice by its blade.
• Roland Voight completed all 6 configurations but instead of a gift, a contraption was attached to him that randomly twists his nerve endings.
• The box changes shapes after each configuration is completed.
• Leviathan appears above Voight's mansion when the final configuration is completed.
• The box resumes its cube configuration after the Cenobites accept Riley's choice of the Lament Configuration.